Image : Oil in Our Coastal Back Yard

The Bouchard 65 spill in 1974 devastated the marsh of Winsor Cove in West Falmouth, Mass. Though the Spartina (marsh grass) was not visibly coated with oil in the days after the spill, enough chemical compounds settled into the underlying peat and sediments to wipe out the vegetation for years afterward (see next photo enlargement, 1977). (Photo by George Hampson, WHOI.)